COLUMBUS, Ohio – The Ohio State baseball team picked up an 11-3 win over Cincinnati Tuesday evening at Nick Swisher Field at Bill Davis Stadium. With the win, the Buckeyes improve to 29-24 on the year while the Bearcats fell to 22-28.

After a scoreless top of the first by Ohio State starter Curtiss Irving, the Buckeyes took the lead in the bottom of the inning off Cincinnati right-hander Grant Walker. Nick Sergakis led off with a single up the middle before Ronnie Dawson was hit by a pitch to put runners on first and second with nobody out. After a ground out to second by Troy Kuhn moved both runners up a base, Pat Porter plated Sergakis with a sacrifice fly to right on a diving catch by Cincinnati right fielder Matt Williams. Josh Dezse followed with a walk before Troy Montgomery doubled to deep center to plate Dawson and Dezse and make it a 3-0 game. Aaron Gretz and Craig Nennig then both walked to load the bases before Jacob Bosiokovic singled through the right side to score Montgomery and chase Walker in favor of right-hander Colin Hawk. Hawk induced an inning-ending fielder’s choice by Sergakis but Ohio State took a 4-0 lead after an inning.

The Bearcats answered back in the top of the second. Walks to Connor McVey and Forrest Perron before a bloop single by Woody Wallace loaded the bases with nobody out before Ryan Quinn lined an RBI single to center to get the Bearcats on the board. Jake Richmond followed with a single through the left side to score Perron before Williams singled through the left side to score Wallace to make it a 4-3 game. However, with the bases loaded and nobody out, Irving got Ian Happ to foul out before striking out Justin Glass and getting Devin Wenzel to fly out to right to end the inning and preserve the 4-3 Ohio State lead.

Things stayed quiet until Ohio State rallied against Hawk in the bottom of the fifth. Gretz doubled to right to lead off the inning and, after a groundout by Nennig, Bosiokovic singled back up the middle to put Buckeyes on the corners with one down. Sergakis then laid down a perfect safety squeeze bunt to plate Gretz before Dawson lined an RBI single to center to score Bosiokovic to push the Ohio State lead to 6-3 after five innings of play.

Ohio State added to its lead in the bottom of the sixth. A one-out single by Dezse and a two-out walk by Gretz put runners on first and second before Nennig singled through the right side to score Dezse. Bosiokovic then followed with a two-run double down the left-field line to make it a 9-3 Ohio State lead.

The Buckeyes tacked on two more off Mitch Patishall in the bottom of the seventh. Dawson singled to lead off the inning before Kuhn was hit by a pitch and Porter drew a walk to load the bases with nobody out. After Patishall struck out pinch-hitter Zach Ratcliff for the first out of the inning, Montgomery dropped a double down the left-field line to score Dawson and Kuhn to extend the Buckeye advantage to 11-3 and cap the scoring.

Dawson went 4-for-4 with two runs scored and an RBI while Bosiokovic finished 3-for-5 with a double, three RBI and a run scored. Pavlopoulos tossed 3.0 scoreless frames to pick up his first-career victory while Tyler Giannonatti, Jake Post and Trace Dempsey each tossed a scoreless inning of relief.

Ohio State hosts Northwestern in a three-game series starting Thursday to close the regular season.

Notes- Porter had his hitting streak snapped at eight games.- Dawson picked up his team-high 19th multi-hit game of the season while Bosiokovic tallied his 12th, Nennig record his seventh and Montgomery earned his sixth.- Dawson tied his career-high four hits while Montgomery equaled his career-high four RBI.- Dezse tied his career-high three walks which was set May 26, 2011 against Illinois.